English Touring Opera are delighted to announce a season of lyric monodramas to tour nationally from October to December. The season features music for solo singer and piano by Argento, Britten, Tippett and Shostakovich with a bold and inventive approach to making opera during social distancing.
This tenth of ten Live from London concerts was in fact a recorded live performance from California. It was no less enjoyable for that, and it was also uplifting to learn that this wasn’t in fact the ‘last’ LfL event that we will be able to enjoy, courtesy of VOCES8 and their fellow vocal ensembles (more below …).
Ever since Wigmore Hall announced their superb series of autumn concerts, all streamed live and available free of charge, I’d been looking forward to this song recital by Ian Bostridge and Imogen Cooper.
The Sixteen continues its exploration of Henry Purcell’s Welcome Songs for Charles II. As with Robert King’s pioneering Purcell series begun over thirty years ago for Hyperion, Harry Christophers is recording two Welcome Songs per disc.
Although Stile Antico’s programme article for their Live from London recital introduced their selection from the many treasures of the English Renaissance in the context of the theological debates and upheavals of the Tudor and Elizabethan years, their performance was more evocative of private chamber music than of public liturgy.
In February this year, Albanian soprano Ermonela Jaho made a highly lauded debut recital at Wigmore Hall - a concert which both celebrated Opera Rara’s 50th anniversary and honoured the career of the Italian soprano Rosina Storchio (1872-1945), the star of verismo who created the title roles in Leoncavallo’s La bohème and Zazà, Mascagni’s Lodoletta and Puccini’s Madama Butterfly.
Evidently, face masks don’t stifle appreciative “Bravo!”s. And, reducing audience numbers doesn’t lower the volume of such acclamations. For, the audience at Wigmore Hall gave soprano Elizabeth Llewellyn and pianist Simon Lepper a greatly deserved warm reception and hearty response following this lunchtime recital of late-Romantic song.
Collapsology. Or, perhaps we should use the French word ‘Collapsologie’ because this is a transdisciplinary idea pretty much advocated by a series of French theorists - and apparently, mostly French theorists. It in essence focuses on the imminent collapse of modern society and all its layers - a series of escalating crises on a global scale: environmental, economic, geopolitical, governmental; the list is extensive.
For this week’s Live from London vocal recital we moved from the home of VOCES8, St Anne and St Agnes in the City of London, to Kings Place, where The Sixteen - who have been associate artists at the venue for some time - presented a programme of music and words bound together by the theme of ‘reflection’.
'Such is your divine Disposation that both you excellently understand, and royally entertaine the Exercise of Musicke.’
Amongst an avalanche of new Mahler recordings appearing at the moment (Das Lied von der Erde seems to be the most favoured, with three) this 1991 Mahler Second from the 2nd Kassel MahlerFest is one of the more interesting releases.
‘And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven … that old serpent … Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.’
If there is one myth, it seems believed by some people today, that probably needs shattering it is that post-war recordings or performances of Wagner operas were always of exceptional quality. This 1949 Hamburg Tristan und Isolde is one of those recordings - though quite who is to blame for its many problems takes quite some unearthing.
There was never any doubt that the fifth of the twelve Met Stars Live in Concert broadcasts was going to be a palpably intense and vivid event, as well as a musically stunning and theatrically enervating experience.
‘Love’ was the theme for this Live from London performance by Apollo5. Given the complexity and diversity of that human emotion, and Apollo5’s reputation for versatility and diverse repertoire, ranging from Renaissance choral music to jazz, from contemporary classical works to popular song, it was no surprise that their programme spanned 500 years and several musical styles.
The Academy of St Martin in the Fields have titled their autumn series of eight concerts - which are taking place at 5pm and 7.30pm on two Saturdays each month at their home venue in Trafalgar Square, and being filmed for streaming the following Thursday - ‘re:connect’.
The London Symphony Orchestra opened their Autumn 2020 season with a homage to Oliver Knussen, who died at the age of 66 in July 2018. The programme traced a national musical lineage through the twentieth century, from Britten to Knussen, on to Mark-Anthony Turnage, and entwining the LSO and Rattle too.
With the Live from London digital vocal festival entering the second half of the series, the festival’s host, VOCES8, returned to their home at St Annes and St Agnes in the City of London to present a sequence of ‘Choral Dances’ - vocal music inspired by dance, embracing diverse genres from the Renaissance madrigal to swing jazz.
Just a few unison string wriggles from the opening of Mozart’s overture to Le nozze di Figaro are enough to make any opera-lover perch on the edge of their seat, in excited anticipation of the drama in music to come, so there could be no other curtain-raiser for this Gala Concert at the Royal Opera House, the latest instalment from ‘their House’ to ‘our houses’.
"Before the ending of the day, creator of all things, we pray that, with your accustomed mercy, you may watch over us."
Grange Park Opera opened its 2019 season with a revival of Jo Davies fine production of Verdi's Don Carlo, one of the last (and finest) productions in the company's old home in Hampshire.
This revival featured two original cast members returning to their roles, Clive Bayley's Filippo and Ruxandra Donose's Eboli, with Leonardo Capalbo as Don Carlo, Marina Costa-Jackson as Elisabetta, Brett Polegato as Rodrigo, Branislav Jatic as the Grand Inquisitor, David Shipley as the Monk / Charles V and Jessica Leary as Tebaldo. Gianluca Marciano conducted the orchestra of English National Opera.
Central to the production are Leslie Travers stylish and imaginative sets which provide a series of striking backdrops for the intimate scenes yet facilitate creating a remarkable amount of grandeur on a relatively small stage. The production remains one of the most satisfying recent incarnations of Verdi's grand opera that we have seen.
Without the Fontainebleau Act, we never see Don Carlo and Elisabetta in their moment of untroubled bliss and the four act version of the opera has inevitably to start in media res. Leonardo Capalbo ran on, vividly emoting and we were in no doubt as to this Don Carlo's youth, humanity and sheer personal intensity. It seemed to take Capalbo some time to get the measure of the auditorium, and initially his singing came over as over emphatic. But there was no doubting his commitment and the vibrancy of his performance as he obsessed over Elisabetta. Capalbo brought a nice intensity to his quiet singing, particularly in the tense Act Two scene with Elisabetta, and by Act Three he was a changed man. Central to Capalbo's performance was the journey that Don Carlo goes on, this strutting peacock of a man learns control and balance, so that his final scene with Elisabetta was moving indeed for the understated nature of their pair's emotions, their control and maturity. This was Capalbo's role debut and his interpretation will certainly grow but this was a striking assumption. (Leonardo Capalbo will be singing the role in French with Opera Vlaanderen in the Autumn).
Leonard Capalbo (Don Carlos) and Brett Polegato (Rodrigo). Photo credit: Robert Workman.
Marina Costa-Jackson was a name that was new to me. Born in the USA and raised in Italy, she is a relatively recent (2016) graduate from the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia. Her Elisabetta displayed great physical control, she was a woman who knew what was expected of her as a king's daughter and the wife of a king, which meant that the moments when she lost control, such as the scene with Don Carlo in Act Two and the thrilling moment with Clive Bayley's Philippo in Act Three when these two strong personalities square up to here, told indeed. Costa-Jackson's voice has a significant vibrato, which warmed the sound considerably but thankfully there was still a strong core to provide the sort of line that this role needs. Her final aria was indeed stupendous, made all the more moving for being restrained.
Clive Bayley reprised his strikingly controlled and controlling Filippo, making him not so much a martinet as a man expecting the highest standards in certain types of behaviour, and unable to understand others' failure. Central to Bayley's performance was the moment, at the opening of Act Three, when we see the private man rather than the public one and come to appreciate the depth of his lack of understanding of his fellow men. When Filippo laments that Elisabetta never loved him, the moment can be in danger of seeming a little risible, but never here Bayley really wrenched our guts.
Whilst her voice is not, strictly, Italianate Ruxandra Donose is one of the most fully-rounded performances of Eboli around. This Eboli was intimately woven into the drama of the whole opera, and you could see her delight in savouring intimate and forbidden knowledge. Donose's upper register is still beautifully flexible, thus making the Veil Song a delight, whilst still giving us a nice evenness throughout the range. She brought a real sense of drama to the whole role, so that the Act Three trio with Capalbo's Don Carlo and Brett Polegato's Rodrigo was thrillingly tense indeed.
Ruxandra Donose (Princess Eboli). Photo credit: Robert Workman.
Brett Polegato's Rodrigo was very much the old soldier. His performance robust and vigorous, and in their Act One duet he and Capalbo seemed to almost be vying with each other for who could phrase the most robustly. Occasionally I missed a more suave approach to the music, but there is no doubting the vehemence and power of his Act One outburst to Filippo about the Low Countries. His relationship with Capalbo's Don Carlo was perhaps one of the least homo-erotic that I have seen in recent years, but his final death scene was moving indeed.
Serbian bass Branislav Jatic sang the Grand Inquisitor. Visuall, de created a vividly etched character, yet did not always manage to match his voice to the image, but the scene between him and Philippo remained one of the central points of the opera. Jessica Leary made a charming Tebaldo, bringing out the character's youth. David Shipley was aptly firm voiced and other-worldly as the Monk / Charles V. The smaller roles were all well taken, with Rosanna Harris as the heavenly voice, Lawrence Thackeray as the Count of Lerma and Roberto Abate as the Herald.
Jo Davies' production really facilitates the intimacy of the smaller scenes in this opera, and one of the virtues of the finely balance casting was that we had a series of very human dramas playing in front of us, all depicted in vivid detail. Yet the big moments, didn't lack grandeur and the stage rarely seemed over-crowded, with the multi-level set for the Auto-Da Fe scene facilitating a miraculous amount of compression.
Key to this was the hard-working chorus, splitting itself into a variety of group, yet always singing with focused virtuosity.
In the pit, Gianluca Marciano prized the impetus and impulse of this final version of the opera, and he and the orchestra kept the drama moving without ever making us feel rushed. The orchestra was on top form, thrilling in the big moments yet able to scale things back and the performance never threatened to overbalance what is essentially an intimate account of Verdi's grandest opera.
There is a case to be made for country house opera being a bit more imaginative in the way it distributes music and intervals, and I certainly wish that a bit of creative thinking could be used to present Verdi's Don Carlos in its five-act version. But until then, this production is one of the most satisfying accounts of Verdi's grand opera around, and here with finely balanced cast.
Robert Hugill
Verdi: Don Carlo
Don Carlo: Leonardo Capalbo, Elisabetta, Marina Costa-Jackson, Rodrigo: Brett Polegato, Filippo: Clive Bayley, Eboli: Ruxandra Donose, Grand Inquisitor: Branislav Jatic, Monk/Charles V: David Shipley; Director: Jo Davies; Conductor: Gianluca Marciano; English National Opera Orchestra.
Grange Park Opera, 6 June 2019